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For over 150 years, Milwaukee has been home to a large community of people of Polish descent. The Milwaukee Polonia Project hopes to show the interweaving, intertwining family trees that resulted in this community. It is hoped that, eventually, all the families can be connected to one another. The Milwaukee Polonia Project is also a means to explore our common history and celebrate our shared heritage.

THE ACTUAL DATABASE OF THE TREE IS NOW LOCATED AT THE MILWAUKEE POLONIA PROJECT TREE at Tribal Pages. (We still have much work to do, so don't assume that families are shown completely.) YOU DO NOT NEED A PASSWORD TO ACCESS INFORMATION ON DECEASED INDIVIDUALS.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

[Many thanks to Joanna Białkowska in providing the following translation.]

The following appeared in the Kuryer Polski on July 1, 1917:

POLISH PIONEER - Antoni Komorowski

Anton Komorowski, one
of the oldest Polish settlers in Milwaukee, at currently 79 years, is
also a military veteran. He was five times appointed to active service
in the German army.

Mr. Anton Komorowski, like all Poles who lived under Prussian
occupation, is an avid Polish patriot and declared enemy of the
Germans.He was born on the first day June,
1838, in Pląskowie, near Wagrowiec, in the Great Duchy of Posen. His
father was John and mother was Constance (née Urbaniak).

He attended parochial school for 13 years of his
life, and then worked with his father on the farm until his 20th
year.When he was 20, he was dragged into the
German army, and he trained in the camp in Bydgoszcz.After two years of military service, he returned
home.In 1863, he was called to serve at the
Russian border to guard this border during the uprising in the
Polish kingdom.In 1864, he was again called
into the German army in the war of Germany against Denmark.This war, however, lasted only four months.

In 1866 Mr. Komorowski served in the army during the
Austro-German war, during which he was again forced to fight for the
German Fatherland.In 1870 he spent nine
months in the German war with France. After returning from the
Franco-German War, Mr. Antoni Komorowski, at age 33 years, decided
to get married and start his own farm. He married Miss Nepomucena
Pałczyńska who was then 16 years old and came from his native
village. Their marriage took place on May 10th, 1871. At that time,
there were rumors that Germany might attack the Russians, so Mr.
Komorowski, not wanting to be called to fight again for the German
government, left on December 9th,
1871 for America with his wife and he went straight to his brother in
Manitowoc, Wis. Then he moved to Milwaukee. In Milwaukee, Stanislaw Komorowski came into
the world.

After a one-year stay here, the family Komorowski
went to a farm in the county of Waukesha, Wis., where they remained
for six years. There were born to them children: Joseph, Marya,
Cecilia and Anthony. So, having five children, one of whom was of
school age, Mr. Komorowski moved to Milwaukee in order to send their
children to Polish schools, because the farm school was not Polish.
He lived at 825 3rd Avenue for eleven years, and then at 1031 2nd
Avenue for 26 years, for a total of 37 years in the Fourteenth Ward
in Milwaukee.

Mr. Komorowski was the first employee at Kosciuszko
Park, where he worked for 10 years. Then he bought a couple of
horses and a wagon and for seven years he worked as a ward jobber in
the Fourteenth Ward. Seventeen years ago, he stopped working
completely to take a break in his old age. Today, he still looks
quite healthy, even though an elderly man. However, he suffers from
rheumatism, and for two years he was bedridden. He belongs to a
Polish company, namely to the St. Bronisława,. He is also a ward of the Metropolitan company.

The children of the Komorowski family have grown up
to be good Poles and respected American citizens. The eldest son,
Stanislaus, is age 44. Joseph, 42, ran a buffet for many years on
Mason Street and was the commissioner for fireman policy for Mayor
Becker. Anthony is aged 36 and Władsław is 34. Maryanna, 39,
married Damzego Popa. Cecilia, aged 38, married Mr. Francis
Droźniakiewcza. Anna, age 32, married W. Ruszkiewicz.

The wife of Anthony Komorowski currently counts 62
years of age. For the past six months, she has suffered from
rheumatism in the hips (sciatica). Fourteen years ago, she went on a
trip to her Polish homeland, along with the married
daughter of James Kuhal. They visited Wągrowiec for six months,
after which they returned back to Milwaukee.

The Citizen Antoni
Komorowski is a regular reader of the Polish
Courier.... [There are a couple sentences
left in the article after this, but the copy becomes too blurry to
attempt a translation.]

Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy St. Valentine's Day Everyone! In honor of this romantic occasion, I give you two eerily similar tales from the pages of the Milwaukee Journal. The first appeared in the May 28, 1908 edition:

Despite this rocky start, it appears this Anthony Smukowski and Sadie Przybyla Smukowski endured. I found the following in the Milwaukee Journal on September 21, 1941:

Also, I wonder if Sadie's evident confusion, as portrayed in the story, resulted from a language problem or from the fact that she was flustered to be in a courtroom standing before a judge.

The other story I want to share with you appeared just two months after the first. It ran in the July 3, 1908 edition of the Milwaukee Journal:

According to records available on FamilySearch.org, Lucian Wolski and Jadwiga Majkowski (or Maykowski) were married on August 3, 1908. However, a quick search (done this morning) did not disclose any evidence of this couple after that.

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Please Correct Our Errors!

The connections shown on the Milwaukee Polonia Project are the work of many genealogical researchers across a large block of time. Inconsistencies are bound to occur. Moreover, all genealogy involves some guess work and assumptions. Therefore, even when using the strictest research methods, mistakes will happen. We apologize for this, but we also wish to make the tree as accurate as possible. Therefore, if you spot an error in our tree, please notify us so that we may correct it.